


Wondering Where the Lions Are

by stover



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alien Culture, Alien Planet, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crash Landing, Espionage, Galra!Keith, Gen, Gladiators, Handcuffs, Infiltration, Prisoner of War, Space Lions, Steven Universe Influences, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, Teamwork, Time Skips, Tournament Fighting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-11-09 15:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11107212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stover/pseuds/stover
Summary: The battle leaves them stranded — no Castle, no Allura, no Coran, no nothing. Just them, their suits, their bayards, and half a granola bar. And space lions. Not giant, magic robot lions. Just… lions. In space.“Space lions,” Pidge deadpanned. “We’re gonna be eaten by space lions.”





	Wondering Where the Lions Are

**Author's Note:**

> **Them:** wot da fuq arr ya doin' wroitin' anootha fic when ye got so mahny ahnfeenish'd fics alrreadey?  
>  **Me:** ay don' no...
> 
> Also, a big thank you to [Pev](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/checkmateslash) for looking over this chapter! <3

They may have proven Zarkon’s powers weren’t limitless, but without Allura, they had nothing on Haggar. 

The witch played their minds like a violin. She plucked at the strings of their sanity and used her bow to screech out melodies that marched old skeletons right out of their closet. When released, they tore into their minds like rats gnawing tunnels through a block of cheese, shredding hope into ribbons and souring the fruits of their dreams.

No matter what they saw or felt, the paladins refused to give in. Their bond with one another was one of the last they had, and it was the strongest they knew. But though they fought admirably, suffering through the witch’s mind-games with every trick they could conjure up, that was all they could do. They had wounds too fresh and ripe in their young hearts. It didn’t take long for the witch to rip into the heart of Voltron’s insecurities and paranoia. 

Voltron snapped when Haggar narrowed her mental clawing onto the mind of the blue paladin. There, she found a wealth of darkness that she summoned forth, replaying the nightmarish memory of a woman torn apart by her limbs as she begged for her life. The will of the blue paladin shattered like glass, and he fell apart from Voltron. The whiplash of the sudden break scattered the paladins into the darkness of space, each paladin piloting separately in their own lions.

Before Haggar could do any more, the Castle launched one final blast to the smoking battleship she was anchored to. Both vessels rocked backwards from the force of the attack. The blinding light when the shot killed the last engine on the Galra battleship stained the galaxy in hues of blue and white. The Castle and its defenders were sent hurtling through the stars.

Heat from the explosions flared all around them, the flames licking down the sides of the Voltron lions. Through their link, the paladins heard their lions cry out in pain. But there was nothing they could do; they were still reeling from Haggar’s attack themselves.

“Dammit!” Lance pounded a fist on the dashboard and struggled to keep his breathing even. Only half the lights were on inside his lion, the others a flickering mess that gave off electrical discharges. Blue made a mournful cry that shook him to his core. Guilt flared as hotly as the tears leaking through his eyes, which remained screwed shut behind the visor of his helmet. “I’m sorry,” he choked, to Blue, to his team, to his mother. “I-I couldn’t— I couldn’t keep it together. I’m sorry. I’m so,  _ so  _ sorry.”

His comlink crackled with a hiss before Hunk’s voice filtered through.  _ “Lance, it’s okay. Nobody’s blaming you for this.” _

The rest of the team came through.

_ “You did all you could,” _ Keith reassured.  _ “You always do.” _

_ “It’s not easy,” _ Pidge said softly.  _ “But we’re here for you.” _

_ “Hang in there, Lance.” _ Shiro’s voice was firm.  _ “This isn’t over, not by a long shot. You’ll get your turn. _ ”

“Yeah, I—” Lance sucked in a breath. “Thanks. Thanks, guys, I—”

_“Paladins!”_ Coran’s voice came through their comm system. His current presence at the controls was a harrowing reminder that all was not well at the Castle. _“I’m afraid we need to make retreat our priority. The recoil from the blast damaged the generator supplying power to our cryopods. It’s all gone dark, and the hull’s crashed right in!”_  

A ripple of unease pierced their minds through the wavering remnants of their Voltron sync. Lance felt an icy grip on his chest. Someone cursed through the comm.

_ “Allura—!”  _ Shiro’s voice was strained; nobody commented on his dropping of honorifics.  _ “Is she—” _

_ “I got her out of the cryopod in time,” _ said Coran, issuing a wave of relief that passed through the paladins.  _ “But we’ve no time to waste! I’m launching the warp drive. A wormhole will manifest in thirty ticks.” _ Coran stopped briefly before he spoke again, voice suddenly dropping as a note of worry tainted his usually strong voice,  _ “Please, paladins,” _ he urged,  _ “stay together.” _

The silence that answered Coran’s plea was heavy and thick. No one had to clarify why Coran was speaking so urgently.

A spark of blue energy crackled by his hand; Lance couldn’t help but give an alarmed shout. And with that, reality quickly swept back in with a strong touch of panic. 

Keith was the one who reached out first.  _ “Lance, you good?” _

Hearing Keith’s voice in his ears filled him with relief. Lance blew out slowly, closing his eyes for a brief moment. “Yeah, I… I’m good.” In his head, he heard the low hum of a dying beast. The lights in Blue’s cockpit were dull and dim, and the mental link they shared conveyed a dizzying sense of disorientation. He grimaced. “But Blue’s not doing so hot.”

_ “You and me both,” _ said Pidge.  _ “Green’s offline. All sensors are down, and so are her defense systems. Autopilot’s no good, either. I…” _ Here, Pidge’s voice turned small.  _ “I don’t think she can fly at all.” _

At that, Lance looked to the top right corner of the screen. Of the five colored lights lined in a row, two were dark: green… and yellow. Lance couldn’t stop the panic that surged from seeing the dulled yellow light on the screen. It was quelled only when he heard Hunk speak next.

_ “My girl’s gone dark too,” _ Hunk said.  _ “No blasters, no auto, no nothing. Keith? Shiro? How’re you guys holding up?” _

Lance looked back to the row of lights. Red and Black shone brightly.

_ “Just barely.” “Red’s still kicking.” _

Lance sighed. They were alright. For now, at least. Things couldn’t get any worse, right?

A wild shock of yellow energy from outside his lion crackled right past him. Lance shrieked, whirling Blue around to see where it had come from.

Haggar.

Lance let a fierce word slip out of his mouth, his hands clenching tight around Blue’s controls because  _ things just got worse. _

Haggar was gliding on a translucent platform that rapidly closed the distance between them. The side of her face was drenched in thick rivulets of blood, matting stringy, silver hair to her face. Her sunken yellow eyes were live coals, and her sharp, clawed hands crackled as she charged for another attack.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Lance yanked back on the controls to no avail; Blue sounded a mournfully low hum in his head in apology. 

Pidge and Hunk shouted through the comm.

_ “Lance!” “Dude, what happened?!” _

Finally, Blue moved. She gave a delicate prance to the right, missing the next blast of energy by an inch. Lance clenched his teeth as Haggar drew closer. “Crazy witch lady at our six!”

A sharp roaring sound zoomed below him, speeding through the darkness of space. In a moment, his vision filled with the gleaming metal body of the Black Lion. With a harsh, sudden jolt in speed, the Black Lion slammed right into the Green Lion, pushing her farther ahead. Shiro’s voice boomed in his ears.  _ “Lance, Keith! Get Hunk and yourselves out of there! We gotta move!” _

Lance cranked the handle of his controls and pushed his left arm forward. Blue made a sluggish turn to the right. “C’mon, c’mon,” he begged, feeling a cold sweat run down his neck. “C’mon, babe, you can do this. One more time, Blue, please.”

He heard his lion roar, a shock of pain shooting through his nerves. But Blue was moving again, gliding through black space and pushing on with a second roar. “Yes! Good girl, you’re so good. I promise not to say ‘gotta go fast’ ever again.”

That seemed to charm her; Blue quickly gained speed, blasting through space to head right for Hunk’s lion. She rammed into the rear, propelling the Yellow Lion forward to tumble through the stars.

“I’m sorry, buddy!” Lance called out. He made Blue ram into the Yellow Lion a second time. “Again, sorry!”

_ “Gyeeaaaaah!”  _ was Hunk’s only response.

At his side, a fast-moving blur of red ripped through space to crash purposefully into the Yellow Lion.

_ “Don’t worry, Hunk,” _ Keith said,  _ “We got you covered.” _

A gurgling retch passed through the comm. Lance winced, his own stomach rolling and shaking up yesterday’s food goo as the sound of Hunk vomiting filled his ears.

_ “Wish I could reciprocate,”  _ Hunk moaned after a brief moment of respite,  _ “‘cause the only thing I got covered right now is my dash.” _

Lance chuckled, the sound weaving with the dry, staccato laughter of his teammates as they listened in through the comm.

Their short moment of gaiety was made abrupt.  _ “Move!” _ Shiro shouted, the command a booming reminder of their situation.  _ “We gotta move!” _ Through the windshield of his lion, Lance saw the Black Lion suddenly do a three-sixty turn, its golden wings rapidly reshaping into a giant cannon. The tip began to emit a bright glow of purple light as it charged.  _ “Keith! You get Pidge out of here while Lance—” _

A stream of purple energy ripped through empty space to make a direct hit with the Black Lion. A horrifying scream filled the comm. Violent flashes of purple and white made Shiro’s agonizing screams all the more terrifying. Lance felt his blood run hot and cold. His vision suddenly filled with a vibrant blue light, and before he knew it, Blue was roaring and he was flying forward, hands tight on the controls. As he pilots his lion, he heard somewhere in the back of his mind Red’s snarling, Yellow’s rumbling roar, and Green’s yowling hiss. And then, all five lights burned bright on the screen of his dash.

An eruption of vines burst from the bottom of the platform the druid witch stood to rapidly coil around her. Haggar gave a furious cry and directed half of her attack toward Green. Yellow rammed its hunkering form into Green, then opened its mouth to launch a giant ball of densely packed plasma into the path of Haggar’s attack. It lumbered through space, shining as bright as a white dwarf star. When the crackling druid magic cut through space to smash against it, Lance shut his eyes and moved Blue above the witch just as the impact of two dense energies rippled with a muffled murmur before the whole thing exploded.

Lance heard a second of someone screaming before the sound was cut by a blast he never heard the end of. A numbing silence filled the cockpit; he felt a sharp, stinging pain in his ears that flared and dulled to the rapid beating of his heart. Slowly, he started to hear a soft fizzling hiss of static layered beneath a persistent, high-pitched ringing. It forced him back to the cockpit, the darkness behind his eyelids the last barrier between him and consciousness. Blue roared, the sound echoing in his head, the mental hum of her energy a sharp cry of alarm that made him blink his eyes open..

Through the windshield of his cockpit, he saw it — smoke and dust and fragments of shattered, translucent metal — and Red, with the druid witch between its teeth. 

Lance recalled the last time Allura had tried to strike the witch down head-on; it was the last move she made before they rushed her back into the Castle and made to retreat.

As if sensing his thoughts, Allura’s weak voice uttered helplessly through the comm,  _ “Keith, wait—!” _

Red’s jaws snapped shut.

Lance stopped breathing.

A surge of crackling energy spiked from between Red’s jaws. Anguished screaming filled the comm once more, this time coming from Keith. White light filled his vision, and the lions were roaring in pain. He was roaring in pain; blindly, Lance clenched hard on the controls and pushed forward. He felt Blue surge through the light at a speed so fast, he felt they were completely weightless.

Then all the weight came back as he crashed, the force of impact hard enough that he was flung out of his seat and thrown face-first into the dashboard. Numbing pain flared hot on his face, but the thick vines wrapping around the windshield of his lion made him ignore it. The vines tightened and squeezed, pulling Blue away from the wreckage.

“Pidge, wait—” Lance coughed, blood filling his mouth from his nasal cavity.

_ “I’m pulling you in!” _ Pidge shouted,  _ “The Castle’s right behind us—” _

Lance let the blood dribble past his lips as he hacked and fought for breath. Breathing through his nose was useless, but no matter how many times his brain screamed common sense he felt his body act on its own and try to bring in a lungful of air through his nostrils. His heart flailed in panic; his brain screamed at him,  _ Your mouth—Use your mouth! Breathe through your— _

He gasped and hacked and coughed, doubling over as he forced air into his lungs through his mouth. Exhausted, he slid off the dashboard and crashed to the floor. The visor of his helmet cracked.

_ “Lance!” _ Hunk’s voice cut through the static. _ “Lance, hang in there, I’m—”  _

Lance forced out the first coherent thoughts he could grab. “Wait—” He coughed again, filling the comm with his shuddering breath and hacking. “Keith— And Shiro—! We can’t leave them—”

_ “Shut up, Lance,” _ said a voice so hoarse, he almost didn’t hear it over the static.. 

_ “Nobody’s leaving anybody,” _ a second voice croaked.

Relief flooded through him in waves. It drowned him; he could feel it filling his head, filling up his eyes and making his vision swim with tears.  _ Keith— And Shiro! They were okay,  _ he thought, the words enough to make his relief spill over with tears and tighten his chest. 

_ “Let’s get out of here,” _ Shiro wheezed,  _ “before it’s too late.” _

The blue-black hues of a whirling portal had never seemed so far away. Red and Black sputtered toward the wormhole, not even at half the speed they were capable of. Yellow shot forward a few meters and stalled, then shot forward again only to stall once more; it struggled along in this manner, painfully slow. Green moved at a moderate pace, somehow having received less damage as was evident in its ability to manipulate and transform natural energies into thick vines. It was how Blue moved; not on her own, but through the assistance of these vines. They wrapped around Blue like a tight embrace, dragging Blue through the silent vacuum of space.

As Pidge towed his lion like a U-Haul truck, Lance stared out at the wreckage they left behind. Floating amongst the shattered pieces of a plate ripped off a Galra battleship was the broken body of the Galra Empire’s most feared druid witch. What remained of the body was a horrible sight, but what he saw in that instant wrought more terror than he’d felt in a long, long time.

Lance watched as Haggar, her body ripped and spilling into the cosmos, somehow managed to lift an arm. A crackling pit of light gathered in the palm of her hand. She raised her arm higher, away from the lions and toward _ — _

_ “She’s going for the wormhole!” _ Pidge cried. 

_ “Put up the particle barrier!” _ Hunk shouted.

Coran was distressed.  _ “We can’t! We used up all of our reserve energy in getting to you and opening up a wormhole. Besides, the particle barrier only protects the castle. We can’t do anything about the wormhole!” _

_ “Dammit,” _ Keith swore, and then over the sound of something being slammed and hit,  _ “C’mon, c’mon—” _

_ “We got through this once,”  _ said Shiro,  _ “We’ll get through this again.” _

Again. They would be scattered again.

Lance clenched his teeth. He forced himself off the ground and pulled himself back onto the seat. “No,” he said, reaching for the controls even in the dark, “Not this time.” He pulled back on one of the controls. Nothing happened. “Come on, Blue,” he whispered, pushing the metal throttle forward and yanking it back again. Still nothing. “Come on!”

Something hissed and crackled up ahead. His head snapped up, and the stream of purple energy shooting their way made a chill run down his spine. “No,” he said, feeling his hand slip off the controls. “No, no, nonono—”

_ “Brace yourselves!” _ came Shiro’s final order.

Lance tightened his grip on the controls and grit his teeth. “I swear to God, Blue, I’m gonna meme it up in here for the rest of my life if you don’t--” He yanked back on the controls. Bright blue lights flashed inside the cockpit of his lion. In the sparse moment of power returning to his lion, Lance felt Blue open its jaws and fire off a single shot of an ice beam. As soon as it sliced through space, the power burst. Sparks danced along the dashboard. The windshield cracked. The lights flickered and cut. A muted boom filtered through his ears, along with the sound of his team cheering in some far-off distance.

_ “Excellent shot, my boy!” “Way to go, buddy!” “Nice shot!” “Oh, thank god.” “That’s our sharpshooter!” _

Even Allura cheered for him.

_ “Ohhh, Lance, I knew you’d save us. Kiss me, Lance, I’ve always loved you.” _

…Is what she’d probably say. He didn’t know what she’d actually said, because by the time he heard her voice, he’d already passed out.

**Author's Note:**

> "s-tover" on Tumblr.


End file.
